For the glory of God, in honor of Saint John Mary Vianney
I pray that some of what you read or hear may lift your spirits in praise of Jesus Christ.
Please feel free to email with questions or prayer needs.

Catholic Prayers for the New Evangelization

"Catholic Prayers for the New Evangelization"

Check out the revised edition of this exciting and unique prayer book, filled with prayers that are sure to nourish the soul as we undertake the New Evangelization.

Sunday, May 04, 2014

I am delighted to introduce you to
the many Knights of Columbus who are here with us today after our
exemplification ceremony for the Fourth Degree in Aurora.You the faithful of Saint Joseph parish are
so kind to welcome all of us here as guests today.

In return, I offer a brief
explanation of who we are as Knights of Columbus and what being a Knight in the
Church in the 21st Century really means.

The best framework for sharing the
vision of the Knights is to explore the four virtues of the Order: charity,
unity, fraternity and patriotism.

Charity

The Knights of Columbus was founded
in the late 1800s in New Haven CT by Father Michael McGivney, a parish priest,
to be an organization of Catholic men dedicated to the service of the Church
and of widows and the sick who were without husbands and fathers or other
family to care for them.

The Knights continue to exemplify
charity through service to the poor and needy of our world.In our Catholic parishes and on the streets
of our communities, where the Knights of Columbus thrives, there exists a
living image of the love of Jesus in the midst of a hungering world.

Unity

Knights are joined together from
across the country and across the world as a global force for good in the name
of the Lord.The Knights are the most
active and visible defenders of the truth of our Catholic faith and of the
supreme right to life for all human persons from conception to natural
death.They are furthermore loyal
supporters of our parishes, the Church’s bishops and priests and of prayer for
vocations.They understand so well how
the Church cannot long endure without the guidance of holy shepherds.

Fraternity

Brother Knights support each other in
achieving their goals and attaining the holiness and virtue to which God calls
them.It is a good reminder for us as
Knights to foster fraternity in all we do, to help fellow Knights to excel and
rejoice in the success and blessings of others, remembering that all glory
ultimately belongs to God.As men of
Catholic values, Knights are called to support each other as husbands and
fathers and give example to all of the meaning of married love and family
life.

Patriotism

As members of the Fourth Degree,
the new Knights who underwent their exemplification ceremony today commit
themselves to being authentic patriots and faithful citizens.Our country was founded by men who trusted in
Divine Providence as they conceived a nation in liberty, a nation dedicated to belief
in the equality of all and to the freedom of all men and women.In this time of crisis and concern for all
people of faith, we Christians and Americans need to look to the devotion of
the Knights to God and country as a clarion call to rediscover the purpose of
our nation’s founding.

These United States of America need
leaders of integrity, who respect the rule of law, who honor above all the law
of God, who defend the right to life, the freedom of religion and the
protection of conscience.

The Knights of Columbus is an
organization with a purpose – to stand for truth in a radically
counter-cultural way; to form and encourage gentlemen of faith, hope and
love.These are the kinds of husbands
and father our world so desperately needs.These are the kinds of priests our Church cannot live without out.

For all these reasons and more,
this is why we are Knights.

We are men on our journey to
discover who God desires us to be for His sake, a journey of love for others, a
journey of faith in Christ and Holy Mother Church, a journey of hope in His
promise of eternal union with Himself.

In January 2012, Dutch teenager
Laura Decker completed a year-long, 27000 nautical-mile round-the-world solo
voyage in a sailboat.It was the journey
of a lifetime and the realization of a dream for this young girl.Along the way, she stopped to surf, scuba
dive, go cliff diving and watch whales for the first time.In an interview, Laura described how she
learned a lot about herself.It was a
journey of encounter – with her deepest self, with interesting people and with
God’s creation – and a journey of discovery.It was a journey of hope and hopelessness, of fear and excitement.

Every one of us here is on a
journey of discovery – struggling at times to follow the Lord and yearning for
the ultimate goal of Heaven – and a journey of encounters, with God and others,
encounters that daily form and shape who we are.

Today’s Gospel is the story of a
famous journey that leads to a life-changing encounter.Saint Paul reminds us in the second reading
that our Christian life is an experience of sojourning.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus
learn through their mysterious meeting with the Lord that the Cross and grave,
which have been a source of scandal and sorrow, are in reality the instruments
of their salvation.

The two men are despondent, for all
their hopes and dreams have been shattered.Jesus wasn’t the Messiah after all, they conclude after witnessing His
suffering and death.

All the disciples are filled with
confusion and fear, they hide for a while in the upper room and eventually
return to fishing.Jesus appears to them
in several different times and places – the upper room, along the road, by the
sea – and yet they struggle to understand Him.

The sadness of the Crucifixion
erased form the disciples’ minds and memories the teaching of Jesus that He
must suffer, die…and RISE on the third day!

Saint Augustine goes so far as to
say that the disciples could learn a lesson from the good thief who was
sentenced to die alongside the Lord.Even
though he was a convicted criminal, he had enough of a sense of faith to perceive
that Jesus, the crucified Lord, the dying Messiah, the immolated High Priest,
would be His ultimate salvation and freedom.What the thief, at rock bottom in his life and searching for hope,
grasped, the disciples in their fear and self-preservation could not
understand.It must happen this
way!

Once it is revealed to the two men
in Emmaus that it has been Jesus whom they have been conversing with, they
realize that He is alive and thus come to understand what He had taught them
before – He must first die and then rise in order to save them from sin.Everything in Scripture points to Him and to
His dying as the purpose of His incarnate life.

It was necessary for the
Christ to suffer and so enter into His glory, having won for all mankind the
glorious liberation for which the prophets of old had longed.

Through our encounter with Jesus in
the Eucharist, we too are made sharers in His Word and in His Flesh and Blood
with the members of the Body of Christ throughout the world.Jesus transforms our hopeless hearts…our
hearts full of fear and confusion at times… into hearts burning with love and
zeal for Him and for our faith.As the
Church established by Christ on the foundation of the Apostles and redeemed by
His sacrifice, we become a global community of missionaries sent to proclaim
the Gospel by teaching the faith and by the witness of our lives.

It is for this that we are
Catholics, baptized and redeemed, nourished and sent forth to share with the
world the good news that we have seen the Lord and He is alive!

This is the good news that gives us
hope when we are tossed about by the waters of the storms of life, when we are
afraid and confused.We have seen the
Lord and He is alive and His suffering and rising have set us free!

And so, rise up o men of God!Rise up, O Church!Be done with the lesser things of the world
and proclaim the goodness of the Lord!

Spiritual Motherhood

Father Beiting's Appalachian Mission

A splendid outreach in which I had the privilage of sharing for a week in the summer of 2010. Father Beiting was a holy and loving man - a living saint! It was an honor to meet him. May he rest in peace. Click on the window learn more...

Liturgy Bulletin Series

Click for more information...e-mail me if you can use these in your parish bulletin or if you have questions/suggestions...